She's More Subtle Tonight

It was a miracle that after such a cloudy day the clouds began to part as I arrived back at the hotel. I could see the sky was clearing but my first thought was that it'd be temporary, but it wasn't. So, once again after the meal I undertook the ritual of climbing into clothing layers with double socks, mittens, etc and headed off into the night in search of those mysterious lights and some serious deja vous visits. The temperature was the same ad yesterday too at -10c or thereabouts.

First stop was the beach from this morning and when I arrived the Aurora had beaten me to it. Tonight the display was good for a while but very erratic and then it died down to almost nothing. The German couple were here too but soon they left, probably because like me they felt there may be other locations which might offer a more interesting composition. The problem here was too wide a vista, just a view out to sea, and there were street lights here too which was a nuisance.

About half way back to the hotel there was a really dark section compared to the beach area and I decided to stop and wait a while to see if the Lights would return, which they did. They were nowhere near as bright as yesterday and were very much more subdued in tone, but in the darkness and with patience I managed the first photo you see here. It's definitely a more subtle photograph but I'm quite pleased with it all the same.

The final location for the evening was to return to Tunganeset and the Devil's Teeth. I stayed here taking photos until 1am and the second photo in this footprint is just one of them.

I packed away my gear at around 12.45am and just as I finished and zipped-up my camera bag, I happened to look up to see an explosion of activity and undoubtedly the best show of the evening, a last burst so to speak. It all happened really fast and I had no time to set up my camera so I chose to be an observer and simply enjoy what I was being given. It lasted only a short time with the Aurora appearing to surge from the top of the mountain across the fjord, sending a ribbon of green and red across the sky and over my head to behind me. It was truly wonderful and a brilliant end to the day - I think I got to sleep just after 2am and this meant I'd not get much sleep before the next event.Read more